Photo: Twitter
Why are companies sending formula during a shortage?
By Kurtis Condra — Written on Jul 20, 2022
A woman went on Twitter to express her confusion as to why she was mailed baby formula a week after purchasing a pregnancy test from Walgreens.
She is not the only one, as others have flocked to her story and also told similar stories about being sent baby formula.
Baby formula is being sent to women who never ordered it and don't have children.
Twitter user @melancholynsex shared a series of tweets asking why she was gifted baby formula when she does not have a child.
She said she used her rewards cards and assumes that is how this was mailed to her.
Continuing the series of tweets, she asks questions that could've caused problems for other women.
"What if I were desperately trying to get pregnant and can't?" she asks in one tweet calling out Enfamil, the formula company that sent the package, "Wouldn't this be a kick in the face?"
In another, she asks what if she was in an abusive relationship and her partner intercepted this package?
"What do you say to the women in states where abortion is now illegal? Are you trying to make a political statement, or is this just a big money grab?" another of her tweets read.
She posted to a local neighborhood group about receiving the formula and was able to gift it to a mother in need.
Other women have shared similar experiences.
Jen St. Jude also posted on Twitter, saying she received a similar package from the formula company Abbot back in May, but she believes she knew why she received it.
Two months prior, she created a baby registry as she was planning to adopt, but the adoption didn't happen — the arrival of the unsolicited formula felt wasteful and invasive.
"The baby was due around now, like a couple of weeks ago, so I thought, 'They just think I have a new child, and they're trying to hook me,' which I thought was a little annoying," St. Jude said when speaking to Insider about the unannounced delivery.
Jude said it was more annoying companies were sending formula out in a time of shortage, but this has been a common practice within the baby industry.
Before the formula shortage, formula sample mailing was a common practice.
Baby formula companies are known to send samples, and a report in 2017 done by NBC Chicago found that online complaints of unsolicited formula delivery dated back to 2000.
A survey conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) said that 51% of pregnant women were marketing targets from formula milk companies.
The WHO is critical of the targeted marketing of baby formula suggesting action needs to be taken soon.
"We need robust policies, legislation and investments in breastfeeding to ensure that women are protected from unethical marketing practices – and have access to the information and support they need to raise their families,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Rusell.
The United States has not adopted any legal measures implementing the WHO's international code of marketing of breast-milk substitutes.
A study done in 2016 found that receiving infant formula in the mail decreased the likelihood of exclusive breastfeeding by six months of age while having no impact on the duration of any breastfeeding.
While many are receiving formula in the mail, supermarket chains are taking questionable measures to ensure their stock of formula can last and that parents who need it the most can hopefully purchase it.
Kurtis Condra covers entertainment, news, and human interest topics for YourTango. He is also a poet based in San Francisco, California. You can keep up with his poetic journey on Instagram.